1. Eric Fromm defined the “syndrome of decay” as the presence of a cluster of three different personality disorders (maximum 25 points).
Eric Fromm discussed three very unappealing and evil forms of personality in psychologically unhealthy people that make up the "syndrome of decay", Necrophilia or the love of death, Malignant Narcissism or infatuation with self, and incestuous symbiosis or the propensity to be constrained to a mothering figure or something that is similar. In my opinion these pathological orientations form the most vicious and destructive personality traits in a human. The attraction to death, and getting a thrill of bloodshed and a neurotic symbiosis with mother figures is morbid. Humans with these personalities have been able to kill millions of people throughout history.
Contrary to "the syndrome of decay" is the "syndrome of growth", biophilia or the passionate love of life, love or love for other humans, and positive freedom or spontaneous activity of a whole integrative personality. These are what make the “syndrome of growth”. However, most people have an average form of personality growth, these syndromes are extreme.
1a. Define and explain the personality disorders present in the syndrome of decay
(max 12.5 points).
Eric Fromm held confidence in that psychologically disturbed people are unable to love or form bonds with other humans. One of His focal points in his studies was the “Syndrome of decay”. Three pathological orientations combine to make up this syndrome.
Necrophilia is defined as any attraction to death. A person with this disorder hates humanity,usually bullies, love bloodshed, havoc, and devastation. They absolutely love talking about people with terminal illnesses or sickness,...
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...love. These neurotic needs usually start in childhood (aggression,affection). A child will “passionately” cling to one parent and feel jealous of another. However, even if their might be several aspects to these behaviors, the child ultimately wants security, and not sexual intercourse.
Karen Horney also found the Freudian concept “penis envy” illogical and if this concept was even brought about so should “womb envy”. She believed sometimes boy’s do express a desire to have a baby, however it is not resulted in universal male “womb envy”.
She did however agree with Alfred Adler in that many women did posses a masculine protest, which means that have a pathological belief that men are superior to women. Which then leads to the neurotic wish to be a man. This is not exactly “penis envy” but it is the “wish to have the masculine privileges and qualities” in our culture.
Torgersen, S. (2009). The nature (and nurture) of personality disorders. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 50(6), 624-632. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9450.2009.00788.x
Two distinct ways that identifies one's lifestyle is attributed to the concept of necrophilia and biophilia. Necrophilia can be defined as the love of death and biophilia can be defined as the love of life. Human character is dominated by both forces, but it is important to identify which of these forces plays a dominant role. The dominant role dictates the relational life one has with the world.
Personality disorders have always been viewed as a possible category for a psychological disorder. However, in the new edition of the DSM, it will be getting its own diagnostic category. In viewing personality disorder, one can only agree that it should have its own diagnostic category. The reason that these changes are being supported is because of the causation, diagnosis, and treatment of personality disorders.
Her most famous theory is womb envy, which is a spin-off with a twist of Sigmund Freud's penis envy. This theory hypothesizes that men are jealous because they cannot produce off spring internally. This jealousy leads to man's desire to treat women as second-class citizens.
This book is partly a psychiatric textbook and partly a self-help book. It reviews the biology, psychology, and genetics of different personality disorders, such as narcissism, paranoia, antisocialism, and obsessive compulsive. The author, Stuart C. Yudofsky MD, graduated with an MD from Baylor College of Medicine. His practice focuses in two areas: psycho-pharmacology and neuropsychiatry. He is the D.C. of the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences of Baylor College of Medicine and the chairman of the Psychiatry Department of The Methodist Hospital. The publisher, American Psychiatric Pub., is a global publisher of books, journals, and multimedia on psychiatry, mental health and behavioral science.
Jealousy is an emotional state that erupts when a valued relationship is being threatened (Buss et al., 1992). Men and women both express jealousy tendencies when they feel their romantic relationships are being threatened. Many researchers have studied sex differences in romantic jealousy to investigate at what particular time do men and women feel the most distressed or jealous. For instance, Bus et al. (1992) and Harris and Christenfeld (1996), found that men feel more distressed when they think their romantic partner is engaging in sexual infidelity, whereas women feel more distressed when they think their romantic partner is emotionally attached to someone else. These findings may be very insightful and useful to many of us who experience jealousy episodes; but importantly, it will allow us to investigate the validity of the evolutionary theory that is used to explain most sex differences. In the following paragraphs, I will describe the evolutionary theory that explains sex differences in jealousy and four related empirical studies. Lastly, I will
Psychopathy has fascinated the public for years due to the gruesome and evil portrayal it has received in the media. Psychopathy is defined in the DSM-III as a personality disorder characterized by enduring antisocial behavior, diminished empathy and remorse, and disinhibited or bold behavior (Patrick, Christopher, Fowles, Krueger, Rober, 2009). Psychopathy represents a cluster of different dimensions of personality found amongst the general population to varying degrees (Patrick et al, 2009). The diagnostic definition is meant to be applied to adults, however psychopathology can occur in children. Controversy surrounds the topic of childhood mental illness because the brain is not fully developed until the age of 18; thus allowing the possibility that symptoms are the result of growing up and will change. The triarchic model, formulated by Christopher J. Patrick, is the most commonly used model in diagnosing adult and childhood psychopathy. This model suggests that different conceptions of psychopathy emphasize three observable characteristics to varying degrees; boldness, disinhibition and meanness (Patrick, et al, 2009). Boldness is the first observable characteristic and is comprised of low fear including stress-tolerance, toleration of unfamiliarity and danger, and high self-confidence and social assertiveness. Disinhibition; characterized by poor impulse control including problems with planning and foresight, lacking affect and urge control, demand for immediate gratification, and poor behavioral restraints. Meanness is defined as lacking empathy and close attachments with others, disdain of close attachments, use of cruelty to gain empowerment, exploitative tendencies, defiance of authority, and destructive excitement seek...
Through case study, the psychodynamic approach was developed by Sigmund Freud. Freud visited Charcot’s, a laboratory in Paris investigating people suffering from hysteria. There, Freud began patient case studies (Crain, p. 254). Freud developed 5 stages of human development known as the Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency and Genital stages. The Oral stage is from the ages of birth to 18 months. This stage engages in oral activities such as sucking. Next the Anal stage begins around age 18 months to 3 years of age. Freud suggests that during the Anal stage a child focuses on the pleasure of purging from the rectal area. The Phallic stages, none as the masturbation stage, when a child get’s pleasure from focusing on his genital areas usually happens during ages 3 years to 6 years of age. After the Phallic stage come the Latency stages. Latency is when children at the ages of 6 to 12 years old work to develop cognitive and interpersonal skills suppressing sexual interests but those 12 years and older fall into the Genital stages. During the Genital stage those suppressed sexual interests re-occur and the need to find gratification dependent on finding a partner (Craig & Dunn, p 12)
According to Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams we all have wishes and desires. One of the most common of these repressed desires is the wish to sexually pos...
According to psychologist Sigmund Freud, who is known for his theory of psychoanalysis, the human mind contains “a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories” (Meyers 597). These unconscious desires then resurface and develop into the impulses for one’s actions and thoughts. Moreover, one of the most prominent and often times controversial ideas of this theory is the Oedipus complex. In Meyer’s textbook of psychology, the Oedipus complex is described as affecting young males by causing the development of sexual desires for their mothers and also jealousy towards their fathers
According to Freud's theory, in the beginning of sexual development of both boys and girls, the mother is the first desired object, seen as almighty and capable ...
Essentially, a boy feels like he is competing with his father for possession of his mother. He views his father as a rival for her attention and affection. In psychoanalytic theory, the Oedipus complex refers to the child’s desire for sexual involvement with the opposite sex parent, usually a boy’s erotic attention to his mother (Wood et al, 366). Freud’s complex is named after a character in an ancient tragedy, Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. The main character accidently kills his father and marries his mother. But when it is referencing to females, the complex is called the Elektra complex, it is also after a similar play but a woman is the main character. These plays were popular during the 19th century in Europe, and Freud believed their popularity was because of the repeating theme, love for one’s opposite-sex parent. This represented a universal conflict that all human beings must resolve early on in their development (Cherry). With this assumption, Freud claimed that during the phallic stage, boys seek their mother’s attention and behave in a hostile way towards their fathers. Usually, boys resolve the Oedipus complex by identifying with his father and suppressing his sexual feelings for his
In Sigmund Freud’s “Sexual Morality and Modern Nervousness”, contained in Sexuality and the Psychology of Love, the writer presents separate roles for men and women as it relates to sexuality, even referring to a “double code of morality” (22) for the genders. In his paper the former often takes the role of the subject while the former becomes the object. In fact, women are described as the “true sexual guardians of the race” glorified, it seems, instead of truly studied. However, in one particular section of the essay, Freud turns his focus onto the female sexuality. In specific he references the various factors that, in his eyes, can influence the female sexual formation. The primary influences being that of the society, primarily the institution of marriage, and that of the family, which would include both a woman’s parents and children. After discussing these elements, Freud then
Another weakness in Freud’s theories was on his biased, sexist male view on female inferiority such as his idea of “penis envy”. Although Carl Jung developed the Electra complex, expressing girls do have sexual desires for their fathers. Resenting their mothers in the process. Freud became outraged by this concept, claiming that it was misleading to imply that both genders experiences are similar.
From a Freudian perspective, human development is based on psychosexual theory (Wedding & Corsini, 2014). Psychosexual theory indicates that maturation of the sex drives underlies stages of personality development (Shaffer et al., 2010). It was Freud’s perspective that there are three components of personality (the id, ego, and superego) that become integrated into his five stage theoretical model. The id was the biological or drive component that is innate from birth. The sole purpose of the Id is satiate an individual’s internal drives (Wedding & Corsini, 2014). The ego is the conscious portion of our personality that mediates between our id and superego. Throughout development the ego reflects the child’s emerging ability to...